A Little Facelift

Or not so little. I just thought I'd let you all know that things look a little a lot different around here. I did an almost complete blog makeover. It took me about two weeks to figure out what I wanted to do, and I posted things to my personal Facebook and Instagram for opinions from all my friends and family, who love it too! I still need to revamp my Photography tab and I have some other plans in store up at the top, but I thought you would all like to peek around and get to know my new layout! I had great fun creating the header and all the matching photos and sub-headers! I hope you all like it! Thanks for reading and I love each of you for doing so!!

Diane

A Big Howdy Do!

Wow.....that's the first thing that popped into my head! First off I want to give a BIG thanks to Kim and Laurie for making me the featured blogger this week on their Meet & Greet Blog Hop! What an honor! I mean I am so grateful for the new followers, HI!!!! (waves) and all the comments too! I know some of you are new and I wanted to just say welcome and thanks for dropping by, following or leaving a comment!!! It really means a lot to me! Truly!

This space is a little hobby of mine where I showcase my other hobbies....hence my All Things Crafty, Photography (which needs to be updated badly, on the list of things to do!) and Lifetime of Memories tabs! A little background on me. I am an Interior Designer locally to Los Angeles, California. I am married to my wonderful husband Darin.....I reference him as either D or the hubby. We have been together for 11 years and married for 6 and we have a shelter pup by the name of Shelby. If you want to learn more you can head up to the About Me tab or the New To Us? tab to get back-stories on our wedding, first dates, vacations and all that jazz!

I will be back later today with the as promised update on operation Lets Have a Baby, but until then I would love it, if you aren't already doing so, please stop by my Bloglovin' and follow me there! I am also on Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram as well!!! :-) Sorry for all the hyperlinks! Check back later for that post! In the pipeline I have another craft project for my Quick and Easy Baby Shower gifts and an Esty featured jewelry maker....I don't make jewelry so I am going to share a really great store with you! Stay tuned!

Thanks again for all the love!

Diane

Le Blog Title - Coffee N Conversations #13

Ok, I really fell off the wagon last week when I said that I would try and blog at least 4 times a week. I usually write posts on my lunch break and I was out at job sites Wed-Fri so that kinda made it a little impossible to do. But even with that I am really tying super hard to accomplish the goals that I set out to do. I am really focusing on the no soda. It's so hard. It's my only addiction!

So I missed the last coffee and conversations with Kalyn and Lauren. But I am not going to miss out on this weeks! This weeks questions: "What's the meaning behind your blog title and why? Do you believe you have upheld the meaning's purpose?"

When I originally started to blog I had a blog titled "Feels Like Home." I did one post and never formatted the page. I then forgot about it and created this little space on the internet. I knew that I had wanted to start journaling my life with my hubby but coming up with a title that suited us was hard. One day, on a drive out to the beach, we passed a street that we always laugh and say, "One day we are going to live on that street." It is Kimball Road. It's funny to us because our last name is Kimball....spelled the same was as the street, not ble. Then it popped into my head to use that as part of it. We both had names that start with D, and honestly we only have one letter difference between them so 2D Kimball Road. Which has now morphed into DD Kimball Road.

The tagline on my original header was "A Journey through the roads of life as seen through my eyes." That is exactly how I still feel about this blog. Back then, when I had this header, I was in a dark place. I was going through a lot of stress and emotion. I was also just learning how to use photoshop, hence the poor quality of the header. The "Kimball Rd." photo, is an actual photo of the street exit sign off the 126 freeway. I liked it because a lot of the posts were emotion filled and the cracks symbolized that I was breaking but still staying together. I had my wonderful hubby get me through that dark time. They weren't all bad times, and I did post a lot about all the fun things we were attempting to do, hence the Lifetime of Memories tab and our yearly bucket list was born. This was a way for us to move through the muck and truly enjoy life.

Once I was able to dig myself out of the dark place, I felt an update to the blog was necessary. I didn't want my readers to feel I was still there. I was still dealing with pain and stress, but was much better and wanted this outlet to showcase my talents and all the crazy things that went on in our life. From the attempt to purchase a home, to wedding involvements and eventually my All Things Crafty tab that is a place that showcases most (not all) of the things I do crafty outside of this blog. Being creative is a stress reliever and the place I like to go to relax my mind. I started to re-learn HTML and was working towards formatting and creating a nice look to go with my stories, my photoshop skills are improving! I still talked about the journeys and all the happenings in our life.

This was my header for over a year. I liked it and the color, but after my ectopic pregnancy last year, the focus of our life switched. Even though we had been trying to start a family, the loss made it more real and the fact that it might be something that we need to work at. I re-vamped the header and I update the tagline to read "A blog about life, love, and the journey to becoming mommy." as a way of motivating myself to talking about the struggles of starting a family. I have written about it here and there. However sometimes I feel like it's a dark and personal place and I want to keep this place a happy outlet. Although I think now, when I originally started this blog, it was a place to journal and keep my thoughts, desires, and everything happening in my life there. I guess I started to only want to talk about the good things, and that isn't really realistic. I still talk about our journey....it is the focus of this little place I call DD Kimball Road. It's a way to share about our life with our very large family that is spread across our country, but to also share with my readers that I am the same as you. We all have problems and we all have wants, desires, and sometimes a little encouragement goes a long way to help! That's what I truly love about this community, the support and encouragement from all the lovely ladies around the world who also keep their lives on a little place on the internet!

So with all that being said, I want to continue to do the things that I set out to on this space of mine. Continue to write about all the happenings going on in my life with my hubby, our lovely pup and everything that comes with life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I will update you all on our journey to become parents periodically and continue to share my crafts, bucket list checks and recipes as they come. I may start to add little design boards here and there as well! If there ever is anything that you wish for me to write about, or a topic that is interesting to you, please don't hesitate to email me or leave me a comment!

Thanks to all of you old and new who share in my journey here at DD Kimball Road. 

Blog Button Design Battle!!!!

Hey to all my lovelies out there in blogland! BreAnna over at Peacoat & Plaid has selected my blog button for her 3rd round of battle of the buttons! I would be oh so grateful if you would all head over and cast your vote for me and my button! Also click on all the linkies below and visit some of the other lovely ladies!

Awe I love this photo!

Welcome to Round 3 of the Blog Button Design Battle with Peacoats & Plaid. Want to know who won Round 2? Drum roll please...

Congrats to Kalyn from Love, Laughter, Happily Ever After! Kalyn's winning button design:

The runner-up spot goes to Amberly from Life with Amberly & Joe.

This week's participants include:

Samantha from Designer in Teal
Jess from Plucky's Second Thought
Petro from The Seaman Mom
Diane from DD Kimball Road
Danysia from That L.A. it Girl
Bethany from Before, During, and After
JMc from Running on Empty
Ashley from Him & Her
Danavee from This Vintage Grove
Kristin from Hopelessly Ever After

Vote for your favorite and most eye-catching button by clicking on the thumbnail below. Make sure you're voting solely on eye appeal. You can only vote once, so make it count.


Check back next week for Round 4. If you're interested in participating in Season 2 of the Blog Button Design Battle, make sure you subscribe to Peacoats & Plaid for updates.

Trying for some consistency

So, I know over the last 2 years this blog really hasn't been consistent, I mean sporadic posts and sometimes weeks without one. The main focus of this blog is really about my life with my hubby and our puppy and also the happiness, struggles, and all things that are surrounded in our lives. Since we have been trying to have a baby that has been a huge focus, and taken some away from other areas! Such is life, but I feel like the content of my little blog has suffered. It's been a journey until now and we are still chugging along. That being said I think I need to make a schedule for all of you.

Since I have had baby on the brain I have been crafting like crazy! We have not conceived, but I keep seeing all sorts of great items to create and have a ton of scrap fabric so I think to myself.....well I can just keep it all on hand for baby showers or birthdays....that sort of thing. Just to keep my craft bug alive. D watched football yesterday (Sunday) and I sat at my machine and plugged along like crazy! So I have five, 1234....Five, tutorials to post!!!! Honestly the only reason I stopped yesterday was because I ran out of thread! ;-D So I will start posting a DIY/Tutorial post once a week.

Also, we have gotten bored with our meals that we do. So much so that most nights it's a struggle to come up with a meal that's fast, easy and relatively inexpensive. So in my quest for new food, I will scour Pinterest and Food Gawker for new recipes. If they work out, I will make sure to share! I have a family recipe all ready to share! If you like pasta and bacon, this is a recipe for you!

So that's the plan! Hopefully I can stick to it! Check out below for a preview of some tutorials to come!

Lake Trip!

Just an update for you all. D and I will be heading out with our good friend Mr. P to the lake for the Labor Day holiday. Things will be dark around here for a few days because I will have no internet service! We will be lounging in the water, water-sporting, playing games and just having an all around good time! Be jealous! Hehe....just kidding. We will also be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary as well! So that's exciting news!

If you need a little D&D Kimball Road while I am gone why don't you check out my new tabs up on top. ^^^ I have made a new bucket list tab (titled "Lifetime of Memories") that will accumulate all the past years checks including their blog posts. It's just an easy way to find everything! I will still have a separate list for each year that way everything just keeps moving on up and easier to find. I have also included a new tab. The Soundtrack to my Life (STML) tab is an area where I keep a list of all the songs that have had great meaning in my world. Songs that bring back a specific memory or that have great significance in my life. A way to keep track of all these great pieces of artistry!

That's what's new over at 2DKR!

Every birthday must be celebrated!

Every blogger has a different intention why they begin to blog, for me it was a way of getting all the thoughts out of my head and onto paper (so-to-speak) so that I can file them away and not worry about it. However, is has now turned into a whatever-I-am-doing-at-that-moment-in-time-how-to-and-rant blog. I guess that's not a bad thing considering that I have only a couple of avid followers and they are mostly good friends and family.

I typically read blogs more often than I post because there are some awesome posters on the web! Today however is a particularly good day to celebrate the 1st birthday of one of my favorite blogs I read. Simple Dude from Simple Dude in a Complex World started blogging 1 year ago today and I have throughly enjoyed reading his sarcastic and humorous outlook on his world in Michigan. So here I am saying Happy Birthday to you Simple Dude! I look forward to many more posts that make my days go round!

Diane